I was sitting in Ferrari GTC4Lusso. Scratch that, I was sitting inside Noah Sylvan's Ferrari. It felt surreal. Before this evening we hadn't even exchanged a word, and now here I was sitting in the backseat of his car. I couldn't settle on whether to be excited at getting a ride from him or annoyed for the way he got me to.
Gabriel was riding shotgun and gaping at the dashboard with awe, much to my annoyance. He was enjoying the Ferrari way too much. I couldn't fault him though. He was obsessed with cars, and compared to our Mom's plain Honda SUV this must've felt like a heaven. Even I couldn't help myself from admiring the finely stitched leather seats with Ferrari's horse logo, the glass roof or the sound of roaring engines. Though Noah had slowed down the car when he caught my panic-stricken face through the rearview, we were still moving fast.
"Gab, behave yourself," I reprimanded my brother as he started playing with the touch screen on dashboard. His fingers immediately backed off and I was certain he was pouting.
"You want to listen music?" Noah asked Gabriel and his green eyes met mine through the mirror. My heart fluttered. I sucked in a breath before looking away. Too much eye contact with Noah Sylvan wasn't good for my already hopeless crush on him.
Gabriel must've nodded because they started going through the playlist on the screen. Noah let him pick the song and Burn it down by Linkin Park filled the silence. It was little loud for my taste but my brother loved heavy metal and EDM, at least for now. He picked up from somewhere this music taste made him cooler. I knew for a fact a year from now he'd switching to rap or indie and claim them as superior.
"Did you know about the guy who sings for this band?" Gabriel said excitedly. Ugh, kids.
"Chester Bennington," Noah answered.
The momentary pause that came from my brother's side let me know Noah caught him off guard by telling him the name of Linkin Park's lead vocalist. Even he didn't know that. But apparently that didn't stop him and he continued even more excitedly. "So you know he killed him-"
"Everyone knows it Gab, and it's not funny," I jumped in. Kid has no filter.
"You keep a firm hand on your little brother," Noah commented, his eyes once again meeting mine through the rearview mirror. "So you like to exercise control where it's easy." He hummed.
I glared at him and he smirked. "Just like you who exercises control over people using daddy's money."
Noah's eyebrows rose, amused at my jibe, before his attention was turned back on the road. "You're wrong Martin. I don't control people, they're already too eager to please me, it requires hardly any effort from my side. Daddy's money spares me that extra work too."
My glare sharpened. This boy was so full of himself. His arrogance should've been enough to cure me of my crush on him, instead I felt my stomach fluttering and face heating when he threw a teasing grin my way. Damn, he's beautiful. It was hard not to swoon and my sharp gaze faltered for a millisecond.
"Good to know your father gives you a comfortable life, unlike ours," I retorted sullenly, "we don't have nannies or housekeepers running behind us, so it's up to me as Gabriel's elder sister to teach him etiquette and public decency. It's not exercising control, it's taking responsibility and looking after your younger sibling. Perhaps if you put in some work, you would understand." I wasn't used to being this harsh with others but Noah's taunts and condescending smirks were pushing my buttons and I couldn't stop myself.
"So Gabriel is your responsibility and you look after him," Noah mused. "You know it involves not losing him in the forest in a freezing cold."
Ugh!! This guy is infuriating!
"It wasn't Giselle's fault. I ran away," Gabriel came to my rescue. Finally my brother was picking the tense atmosphere around him. I swelled a little seeing him taking my side.
Noah turned to him. "Next time listen to Martin. She cares for you," he said, surprising me. "Don't worry, your sister and I aren't being serious. It's just a playful banter between friends." Huh?
Gabriel kept mum, probably trying to figure out the meaning of word 'banter'.
"We aren't friends," I remarked, "and this isn't playful banter. It's you relentlessly going after me."
"But you seem to be keeping up well." Noah let out a light chuckle turning my insides fuzzy. "And if we aren't friends, we can be." His green eyes looked at me playfully.
"No need. Besides I won't fit well in your circle."
"Well, you'll fit marvelously with me."
I blushed and avoided his piercing gaze. So he was making fun of me now. There was no way he would really mean that. Noah and I were from very different standings that barely mixed together. He was rich, beautiful and powerful, whereas I was poor, fat and...well me.
"What do you say Giselle?"
My heart skipped a beat hearing him say my name. I could feel his gaze weighing me down, urging me to speak. "I say I'm perfectly fine without you," I muttered. When the heaviness disappeared I knew he looked away.
"I thought as a friendless newcomer you'll be happy to join us, but I guess you prefer being a loser- I mean loner."
He's such an ass.
"Or I prefer making friends who aren't needlessly jerk to others."
Another chuckle slipped past Noah's lips and I, like a Noah-obsessed-fool, couldn't help but love the sound of it.
"Like I said you'll fit marvelously with me," he said, not offended by my remark.
I tried to ignore the flip in my stomach and purge the hope blooming inside me. I had to remind myself he was just playing with me, he didn't mean anything. No matter the sappy romance novels that I had spent countless nights reading, in reality men like him didn't go for girls like us. Moreover, Noah Sylvan was a rich, arrogant jerk. I shouldn't be pining after him either. I really shouldn't.
"Giselle make him your friend," Gabriel chimed, "he has Ferrari and that forest. He's so cool. He can drive me to school. Matt's going to love it when he sees me-"
"He's not cool. He's rich Gab," I cut him off. "And I don't make others my friend just because they are rich or have Ferrari. How they are as a person matters more." Unlike other times, I wasn't in a mood to be patient with my little brother. I was little miffed at how easily Gabriel took liking to Noah. One Martin sibling was enough to drool after him.
"Don't sweat over it Gab. You and I are already friends," Noah told Gabriel. "Your sister will come around soon." I didn't like the certainty in his tone... Or maybe I liked it too much.
God, I am a mess!
Our eyes clashed again through rearview and I discovered the mischief and amusement swirling in his green ones. He was so taking pleasure in getting on my nerves.
Gabriel, satisfied with Noah's assurance, started babbling about his school and his friend, Matt, and how he'd love Noah's Ferrari. Despite my polarizing love-hate feelings for Noah, I liked how he was good and patient with my brother. It's me who he likes to taunt and insult.
I guided him to our house once we passed the main market of town. When we stopped I felt a little embarrassed as he took in our small two-bedroom house in a not-so-affluential neighborhood. Neither Noah nor his stupid Ferrari belonged here. Our house was granted to my mom by her firm and it wasn't the best out here compared to many other already rundown ones. In my free time I had mowed its tiny lawn and took out weeds, so at least it didn't look haunted. But the chipping paint from walls and doors and rusty picket fences needed work. It needed lots of work from inside too.
Mom was busy with job and bringing in money, so primping the house, that wasn't even hers, wasn't in her priorities. Maybe I should give it a little makeover, so that I didn't have to be embarrassed of my living space in front of someone like Noah.
"Thanks for bringing us home," I said as Gabriel got out of car. There were only single door on the sides so I had to wait for him to get out and shift the passenger seat.
Noah nodded. "Try to avoid woods for few days," he said cryptically and pushed the front seat forward to make space for me.
"Why?"
"Can you just take my word?"
"No," I replied. "But I won't be stepping on your land if that's what you want. If I knew it before-"
"It's not that," he said immediately. "Just don't go in the forest for sometime. It's dangerous out there, that's all I can tell you." He didn't look like he was kidding.
"There are no wild animals out there. What are you talking about?"
Noah leaned back in his seat. "Instead of questioning can't you just obey me like a good girl?"
I scowled at his condescending tone. "If your reasons aren't good enough I'm not going to obey you like a good girl."
"You sure have a feisty mouth for that cute face." He clicked his tongue. "Just some more time and I'll turn you into a good girl." My face turned at its brightest red. His teasing smirk didn't help.
"You-"
"Giselle," Gabriel called. "I have to pee."
After throwing Noah my meanest look, which only widened his smirk, I got out and shut the door on his face.
The passenger's window rolled down and Gabriel waved excitedly at Noah. He gave him a smile, which I would've swooned over if I wasn't mad. His gaze then moved to me, smile dropping and face turning serious.
"Stay away from woods. I mean it," he repeated, the warning in his tone challenging me to dare disobey him. With a satisfied look after studying my face for few seconds, he drove away.
I slumped with a mixture of relief and sadness as I watched his Ferrari disappearing from my sight. Noah and my feelings for him both were so confusing.
I took Gabriel inside and started on dinner as he watched T.V.. It was past six and Mom was going to be home soon. I decided to make her favorite dish, meatballs and spaghetti, to treat her and also to take my mind off certain handsome jerk. Mom and I had distributed house chores, meals being one of them. She prepared breakfast and packed lunch for Gabriel while I cooked dinner. We both were waiting on Gabriel to grow up and share the load too.
Our family of three had been barely getting by before moving here. Cash, food and grocery shortages were monthly occurrences. But now things were looking up.
A month ago Mom's job at small- but expanding- firm brought us here at Easthallow, a small town situated among the large woodland which was mostly populated by rich, loaded families who owned chunks of that said land. Noah Sylvan's family was one of them. Though I had to admit I'd have one for myself too if I could. Maybe part of the reason I gave into Gabriel's demand to go out there today because I wanted to too.
My brother and I were really fascinated by the woods as it was the first time we were so close to nature after being cramped into small apartments of cities for our whole lives. The tranquility and freshness of this isolated place was great contrast to the hustle and bustle and thick air of big cities. No wonder rich folks chose to live here even though most of their businesses were in main city. It was so peaceful.
After moving from place to place and uprooting our lives repeatedly I was happy this one time. I liked Easthallow - even if the town's name was kind of creepy. And it looked like we were settling here for a long haul because my mother finally had the stable position of manager in the firm. This was good as Gabriel didn't have to turn into a loner like me who couldn't form bonds with her peers as a result of constant moving.
I, for the first time in my 18 years of life, felt truly relieved. We finally had enough money and financial security. I was content.
Or maybe not. There was one more thing I stupidly, obsessively desired. The person who kept me wide awake at nights ever since the first time I saw him. The boy who ominously warned me to stay out of the woods.
And I knew for certain I wasn't getting him.
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